When David Cameron beat David Davis for the Tory party leadership it was a crushing blow for the man who had been red hot favourite to succeed Michael Howard.

Mr Davis had presided over a campaign that imploded in spectacular fashion. His rival had caught the mood and with careful presentation, youthful optimism and clever timing easily won the mandate from the Conservative rank-and-file.

Mr Davis was considered to have run a weak and old-hat campaign and he paid the price. His dream of leading his party was shattered for a second time.

To soften the blow Mr Cameron guaranteed the man he defeated the coveted position of shadow home secretary that he had held so successfully since 2003.

Since then Mr Davis has been allowed an almost free rein on framing Tory home affairs policies. On the issue of 42-day detention Mr Davis had to persuade Mr Cameron, and in particular his close political ally George Osborne, that the Conservative position should be steadfastly on the side of civil liberties and therefore opposing the 28 day limit being raised.

He boasted to friends that he had won them over and that he was in the driving seat on this policy.

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But on Wednesday night when the vote revealed the Government had won - with the crucial nine DUP votes - Mr Cameron, who was not sitting next to his shadow home secretary, immediately strode out of the Chamber. He was on his way to a drinks party at his house for fellow shadow cabinet members. Mr Davis did not attend.

Mr Davis is a proud right-winger who once delighted, when Europe Minister under John Major, of his nickname of "Monsieur Non."

He revels in his past role as a weekend, Territorial Army, SAS soldier. When he stood for leader he also made little effort to contrast his upbringing with Mr Cameron's.

He was born in York just before Christmas Eve in 1948, the illegitimate son of a single mother - his father ran away within days of discovering his mother was pregnant. Four years later, his mother moved to Tooting, in south-west London, when she married Ronald Alexander Davis, a shop steward at Battersea power station. The boy was adopted when he was 11, when he also passed the 11-plus exam.

He went to Tooting Bec grammar school. The story goes that he stood up to a gang when they beat up a boy for being gay. He describes himself as a "tough kid" at school with a reputation for "getting into scraps".

His distinctive flat nose is the result of breaking it five times - three times playing rugby for his school second XV, once in a swimming pool accident, and again in a fight on Clapham Common.

After the 1997 election meltdown is refused a front bench position in William Hague's team. Instead he chaired the powerful Public Accounts Committee and, at a time when Labour was rarely troubled by the weak opposition, he used the position to regularly score important victories over the Government.

He has accounted for several senior Labour ministers in his home affairs role. Beverley Hughes, David Blunkett and Charles Clarke have all fallen victim to the bruiser from south London.

There are two portraits of Gladstone, his political hero, on the walls of his office.

The CV

Born 23 December 1948, York

* EDUCATION

Bec Grammar School, University of Warwick (BSc joint Hons in molecular and computer sciences), London Business School (MSc), Harvard University (AMP)

* FAMILY

Married Doreen Cook, 28 July 1973; one son, two daughters

* CAREER

1987-90: Director, Tate & Lyle, Globe Investment Trust

1987: Elected Conservative MP for Boothferry (1997 Haltemprice and Howden)